Posted on 09/05/2023 10:04:45 AM PDT by Coronal
Alabama's Republican-backed congressional map illegally dilutes Black residents' voting power and must be redrawn, a panel of federal judges ruled on Tuesday, boosting Democrats' chances to win back a U.S. House majority.
The ruling is the second time the court has thrown out a congressional plan enacted by the Republican-controlled state legislature, and the three-judge panel in Birmingham wrote that it saw little reason to give lawmakers a third chance. Instead, a court-appointed special master will be tasked with creating a new map.
"We have now said twice that this Voting Rights Act case is not close," the judges wrote. "And we are deeply troubled that the State enacted a map that the State readily admits does not provide the remedy we said federal law requires."
Under the Republican map, only one of the state's seven congressional districts is majority Black, though Black residents make up more than a quarter of the state's population. The state's lone Democratic U.S. representative, Terri Sewell, represents that district.
The panel first intervened in 2022, ruling that an earlier Republican plan was illegal. After the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the panel's decision in June, the Birmingham court ordered Alabama legislators to create a second district with either a Black majority or "something quite close" to comply with the Voting Rights Act. The law bars lawmakers from drawing district lines in a manner that discriminates against minority voters.
The latest plan increased the number of Black voters in a second district but fell short of a majority, prompting civil rights groups to challenge the new map in court again.
The Alabama case is among several legal battles over redistricting that could result in new congressional maps in at least half a dozen states, enough to determine congressional control in the November 2024 election.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Sad when a judge thinks that “Federal law requires” discrimination.
Where does the judicial branch get the authority to draw districts? That’s a legislative branch power.
Gerrymandering is just fine so long as it benefits democrats.
So now judges and their minions, will draw congressional district boundaries.
They talk about a political bias involved with the way the redistricting had been done. But aren’t they doing the same thing just to benefit certain groups of people in certain congressional districts?
Haven’t there been another court cases in which courts have ruled that redistricting is strictly a political matter, and not a matter for the Judiciary to get involved in?
But that's exactly what the law requires.
Would the court have ruled the same way if black voters were mostly Republicans...
Despite Republicans being about 1/3 of the Massachusetts electorate, all 9 of its House seats are Democrat controlled. When will SCOTUS rule that MA needs to redraw its map to be 6-3 Dem-Rep?
The courts will rule that blacks get their own districts, but will never rule that whites, particularly white conservatives are entitled to their own districts because blacks are a “protected class”, while whites are not. Wake up people. Your own government is against you.
Of course not..the same with illegals, ya think the left would want them here if they all wore maga hats..Pelosi and Schumer would have built the damn wall with their bare hands
Tyrants in black robes are turning Alabama’s elections over to 25% of the Alabama population. Their asses need to be thrown in prison.
Who appointed the Judges who made this decision?
It's the only thing that matters.
These GOP legislators ought to wise up in a scenario like this. Draw the district maps so that black residents make up exactly 25% of the population in all seven districts. No room for subjective dispute here.
I guess what I’m suggesting is that any judge should be able to find that the law is unconstitutional on its face.
These district concepts are rooted in the old physical world. They can draw massively contorted districts to corral as many black votes as they need.
But why not move beyond the old concept of a physical boundary for a district and move to 21st century “virtual districts”? That way, they could draw a micro-district map with a circle around every black citizen and then collect them all into larger 100% black “districts.” They could create as many black “districts” as they need.
Who the hell gave the tyrants in black robes the authority to do this? It’s time to defund the worthless Feral courts and fire all of the jugheads.
What about Asian voters? Hispanic voters?
“Who appointed the Judges who made this decision?
It’s the only thing that matters.”
It doesn’t matter who appointed these judges. The outcome is always the same.
The BoomerCons bought into “anti-racism” and the civil rights regime just as much as Democrats.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 1991 (who was President?) has become a successor Constitution.
The original Constitution says State Legislatures draw the congressional districts. The successor Constitution say that Courts draw districts based on the Civil rights Act.
And that is now what happens.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965, which implements the 15th Amendment to the Constitution.
Did the Voting Rights Act of 1965 actually dictate that districts must be drawn to maximize the likelihood of black candidates winning? I haven’t looked at the text of the law but there weren’t a lot of black Congressional candidates back then...did Congress really think in those terms or did judges just find that right later?
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